Can't Win If You Don't Smile
by pleasant-hell
Summary: Quinn and Rachel meet in The Little Miss Lima Pageant. It's the day before Quinn's birthday and all she wants is to win.


Based on a prompt from your,kat if you pretend that the comma is a period because apparently periods are bad

* * *

><p>"You're never going to win if you don't smile."<p>

Quinn looked over to the source of the voice. A pint-sized brunette was looking at herself in the mirror before turning to Quinn with a radiant smile. Quinn kicked her dangling feet over the floor, "What?"

"You're never going to win if you don't smile. Judges like happy people. Happy people smile," Rachel brushed a brown curl out of her face.

"I don't care," Quinn snapped, "This is stupid."

A gasp elicited from the smaller girl, "The Little Miss Lima Pageant is _not_ stupid."

The blonde rolled her eyes, "Whatever. I'm only here cause my mom wants me to be. She says I can't stop until I get a crown."

"Why don't you like this?" Rachel asked, walking over to the blonde girl.

"I like dressing up and stuff," she admitted still staring at her feet, "I just…I've never won before…," Quinn blinked and regained control of her emotions. She was not going to try in front of this girl…whoever she was.

"Well, I've never won either, but I'm going to keep trying," Rachel added with a hopeful smile, "Not because I want to win, but because it's fun…and it's great practice for when I'm on Broadway."

"What's Broadway?" Quinn asked.

Rachel gasped again, "It's my future."

"How old are you?" the blonde asked, getting a little weirded out at the moment by this girl.

"Seven," she stated, "And a half."

"Oh," Quinn nodded.

"What about you?" Rachel asked.

Quinn sighed, "Almost seven…tomorrow's my birthday."

The brunette grinned, "Happy early birthday."

"Uh thanks," Quinn weakly smiled back, "My friends are here waiting for me so we can start our slumber party for my birthday right after this."

"That's nice," Rachel offered, "So what do you want for your birthday?"

"I don't want to ever have to do this again," Quinn stated, "At least not until my junior prom."

Rachel nodded, staring hard at the floor. She was formulating a plan. She has always been so good with plans and this one was going to work. "What's your talent?" she asked Quinn rather suddenly, slipping out of her chair.

"Cheering."

"That's not a talent," another little girl walked up to them and put her hands on her hips. Quinn wasn't about to argue with her because she was significantly bigger than she and Rachel put together.

"It is a talent," Rachel defended her with a stomp.

"What's your talent?" Quinn was a little reassured with reinforcement so she eyed the new girl.

"A series Greco-Roman take downs and self-defense techniques for girls," the girl smirked. She reached out and offered her hand to Quinn, "Lauren Zizes."

Quinn looked at her for a moment before nervously taking her hand. After a brief shake she withdrew her hand, "I'm Quinn."

"What happened to the one handed chin ups you did at the last pageant?" Rachel asked Lauren tilting her head to the side.

"I broke the bar at home while I was practicing," Lauren shrugged, "You going to sing again?"

Rachel looked at her like she was crazy before stating, "Of course."

"What's taking so long?" a voice that Quinn immediately recognized. She turned to the backstage door where her two best friends were standing, their  
>pinkies linked.<p>

"Who are you?" Lauren looked to the two little girls.

"I'm Brittany," the taller blonde girl beamed.

"Santana," Rachel stated with a hard look on her face.

Santana sneered back, "Berry."

"You two know each other?"

"We go to dance class together," Santana sighs.

"I go to dance class too," Brittany beams, "But I'm in a different class."

"The special class?" Lauren rolled her eyes.

Luckily for Lauren, Quinn saw Santana let go of Brittany and take off running.

Due to Santana's much smaller size than Quinn, the blonde was able to restrain her.

"Get off!" Santana screamed but it was of no use. The smallest of the girls had yet to hit any significant growth spurt since age five and although just a little bit shorter than Brittany, she was still scrawny as Lauren was not.

"Santana," Brittany called, "I'm going to go get ice cream. Wanna go?"

Santana stopped struggling and look from Lauren to Brittany and then back. "Don't ever say anything mean to her again. I'll kick your butt. She's in a better dance class butthead"

Brittany grinned and held out her pinkie for Santana to take. They walked out together, hands swinging between them.

"I gotta get make sure my wrestling suit is ready," Lauren shrugged and walked off.

Rachel looked over at Quinn who was straightening out her hair. "Oh your dress."

Quinn looked down at the waist of her dress and round a small hole where the top attached to the bottom. Tears filled her eyes and she sank to the ground.

"Wha-what's wrong?" Rachel asked, sinking her to knees next to the crumpled girl.

"I really wanted to win so I don't have to do this again," Quinn said as large tears rolled down her cheeks.

Rachel looked around the room and then down at her own dress. After a moment she stood up and untied her sash, letting on end drop to the floor. "Here."

Quinn sniffled and looked up at Rachel with wide eyes, "What's that for?"

"It'll cover up the hole in your dress," Rachel helped Quinn fix it around her waist. "My daddy said that only certain kinds of pink can go with certain kinds of green, but I think that these go together."

Rachel pulled Quinn to her feet and pushed her in front of a mirror, "See?" She asked with a hopeful smile.

The blonde looked herself over with a heavy sigh before and then looked at herself some more, "Thanks Rachel."

Rachel grinned widely, "You're welcome."

"Rachel sweetie, it's time to go," a man's voice called from outside the door.

Without another word Rachel skipped out of the room.

The whole pageant was going over well for Quinn. Her mom didn't notice the slight alteration to her dress until it was too late and she was already on the stage.

When it came to the talent section of the pageant, Quinn performed flawlessly and had so far been the best one yet. But as Rachel sang her little heart out, Quinn felt tears well up in her eyes again. Rachel was way better than her. She was way better than all of the grown ups she knew and most of the ones on TV.

So she stood in the wings of the stage, as the tears began to fall again. She saw Rachel look at her and then she saw the double take Rachel did when she looked at her.

Rachel swallowed hard and closed her eyes. Then she stopped singing. The music continued, but she stopped. Instead she just stood there, staring at her feet, hoping that her daddies wouldn't be mad at her for helping her new friend.

Before the song was even over, Rachel walked off of the stage on the opposite side from Quinn.

Immediately after, they called all the girls onto the stage to announce the winner. Rachel and Quinn weren't standing next to each other, but Quinn shyly looked across the girls that separated them. When she saw Rachel, Rachel was smiling back at her.

And when Quinn was announced as the winner she almost started crying agian. She never had to do this again. She liked cheering and she liked looking pretty, she just didn't like having to do it like this.

Backstage, Quinn saw two men hugging Rachel so she waited until they were done before walking up to her, her hands folded in front of her and her head tilted down. "You sing really pretty."

Rachel beamed, "Thanks. I'm going to be on Broadway."

Quinn still didn't know what that was, but she figured it was probably a good place since Rachel wanted to sing pretty there.

The blonde looked behind her to make sure her mom was busy talking to the other moms before she leaned forward and kissed Rachel's cheek, "Thanks for letting me win."

Rachel blushed and pushed her hair away from her face, "You did really good."

"Thank you," Quinn grinned one last time before running to her mom's side, where Brittany and Santana were standing, holding hands and waiting.

Rachel watched Brittany hug Quinn and smiled before turning to her dads and following them out of the theatre.


End file.
